Extinction (The Divine Book 7) (10 page)

"I can't convince him of anything unless..." I paused, the lightbulb finally going on. "You want me to go to Heaven?"

"Si, signore."

"How?"

"You have allies among the angels. Use them."

"You just said the angels would never allow me to do what I need to do."

"You have always been resourceful, signore. I'm sure you will figure something out."

Not that I had a choice. Dante was right. I was too weak to fight Sarah in my current state. If getting Uriel to fix the sword and killing demons with it was the only way to level up, I had to do it.

"Can you send me back now?" I asked. "It seems I have a lot of work to do."

"One moment, signore," Dante said.
 

He vanished a moment later, returned a few heartbeats after that. Then he reached out toward me again. I extended my hand, touching it to his. A moment later I was standing in Alyx's bedroom. The sheets on the bed were still in disarray from our earlier near-miss. I crouched low, reaching under the bed and pulling out the old shoebox.
 

"I can't believe you put a priceless relic in that," he said.

"That's the idea," I replied, opening the lid. I lifted the shattered pieces of the blade from it and dropped them into my coat pocket. "You should stick around. I could get used to traveling the world like this."

He smiled. "You know I cannot remain, signore. Though I am pleased to be able to offer you assistance once more."

"I've got the blade. Take me back to Italy."

"Of course, signore. I will remain alert to messages from Alichino, should you require me again. I will also see if I can uncover anything else that might help."

"Thank you," I said.
 

He replied by smiling and nodding, and then, putting his hand on my shoulder. An instant later I was back outside the basilica.

Dante was gone.

Both angels and demons turned to ash when they died.
 

Touched? They just died.

As I stood in the plaza outside the Basilica, I was surrounded by them.

It was a grisly scene, made all the more real by the line of police cars, fire trucks, and ambulances circling the area, along with the crowds of onlookers who had come to see what happened. How would their minds process this carnage? A meteor strike? More terrorists? They were always a good mental scapegoat for the damage the Divine caused.

The basilica itself looked as though it had been hit by a bomb. The entire eastern wall was collapsed, as was the dome, which couldn't remain upright without the added support. Scorch marks from a fire demon's sword left dark marks on the steps, and dozens of claw marks were etched into the doors. I could see the emergency workers climbing over the rubble, searching for survivors.
 

The balance was shifting. I could feel it in my gut. Losing a thousand Touched was much, much worse than losing a thousand demons. The only good news was that Sarah had to know that. It meant her next target wouldn't be Heavenly. If she truly wanted to save humankind, she couldn't do it by giving the demons free reign.

Then again, if her father got to her before I did, if he had better luck in convincing her she was on the wrong path, there was no telling what would happen next.

Uriel's sword. That was step one. A weapon that would let me increase my power. That would let any Divine increase their power. I was surprised Gervais hadn't stolen the shards from me. Then again, there was no way he would ever get them put back together.
 

The thought gave me pause. Was that why Zifah hadn't attacked me with the Fist? If Dante knew the sword could be useful, so would Gervais. I had to assume he was waiting for me to retrieve it, and then he would come for it. It was typical. Maybe a little too predictable. I had to assume it was true. If I managed to convince Uriel to reforge the blade and let me take it back down to Earth, there was no way he wouldn't try to take it.

I scanned the scene, looking for Obi. Dante was convinced my friend would be alive after this. I had confidence in his ability to take out most demons despite the loss of his Divine power, but that fire demon had me worried. He couldn't fight that. The emergency workers looked at me as I started moving toward the basilica, but they didn't try to stop me. As soon as they blinked, as soon as they looked away, they forgot I was even there.

I reached the basilica, climbing over the rubble the same way the first responders were. I didn't call out Obi's name; that would have only drawn more attention my way. I did use my power to subtly push some of the debris aside, to make sure he wasn't under it. I didn't expect him to be. The last I had seen of him, he was outside the building.

I was worried, but not too worried. I moved away from the chaos, heading out past where law enforcement had closed the roads. If Obi had survived, there was only one other place I would find him at this time of night.

The bar was called La Tempesta. The Tempest. I could hear the laughter and talking coming from it when I was still two blocks away. It was tucked back in a small alley, on a cobblestone street that time had forgotten, a passage too narrow for any cars to traverse. The door to it was hanging open, the patrons loitering outside to smoke. They glanced at me as I entered, greeting me with an enthusiastic "Ciao!"

The inside was as dim as I expected, and also more crowded. There was a television in the corner, turned off. The reports about the basilica were probably killing the mood, and nobody went to a pub to hear bad news. The benches at the bar were all taken by Italian men and women, some fair, some olive, none as dark as Obi.

I walked through the place, checking the tables. I was about to give up when a bottle cap hit me in the back of the neck.

I turned around. Obi was sitting against the wall, a beer on the table in front of him. He looked tired, a little sweaty, but otherwise no worse for wear.

I went over and sat across from him. He stared at me for a few seconds without speaking.

"I know what you're thinking," I said. "Dante took me. I didn't leave."

He smiled. "I know. I saw him. That's not why I'm staring."

"Then why are you staring?"

"She was going to kill you, man."

"I know. She thinks it's the right thing to do. She said I'm causing the war to escalate, and pretty soon it will be out of control."

"Unless she kills all of the Divine?"

"Exactly."

"You can't stop her."

"I would have if I could. How did you get away?"

He shrugged. "Snuck out when I saw you go poof. The demons didn't want anything to do with me after I cut a few dozen of them down. Not with so many Touched to kill. Sarah didn't see me, or if she did she let me go again."

"Because you're human. Fully human."

"Is that why? I thought she just liked me."

"She does like you. I'm pretty sure she still likes me. What she's doing, she thinks she has to do, or the world is going to end. The problem is if she kills all the Divine, the world is going to end anyway."

"Ain't that a kicker."

I smiled. "A big one."

"So, Dante saved your ass. I figured you'd catch up to me here sooner or later once you saw I wasn't dead. Did he give you anything useful?"

"We'll see. I'm supposed to take the shards of Uriel's sword to Heaven, and ask Archangel Uriel to put it back together for me."

He laughed loudly enough that half the patrons in the pub turned to look at us.
 

"You're kidding me?" he said.

"I wish I was."

"Man, there is no way that is going to happen."

"Normally, I would agree with you, but the balance is shifting. If the angels don't do something, they might end up screwed."

"Unless they know what Sarah is up to."

"Meaning they'll let her balance things out again?" They would never help me if they knew she was going to. "I don't think they do. Not yet. I have a bad feeling Gervais knows what's going down, though."

"So you need another set of eyes in the back of your head."

"Yeah."

"I'll do my best," he said.
 

"Thanks. I appreciate you helping me out on this one. Especially considering you aren't the biggest fan of the Divine."

"I'm a bigger fan of the world staying in one piece. I know we've had some rough patches here and there, Landon, but I've always considered us friends. Friends just go through some shit sometimes, that's all."

"Agreed."

He raised his bottle to me, and then took a drink.
 

"Do you know what happened to Alfred?" I asked.

"He was fighting for a while. He's a total badass, by the way. He teamed up with that angel that opened the Mass, and the two of them took out the fire demon. Sarah got to them, though. I saw Alfred try to save the other seraph, but she did something to him and made him disappear. Sent him back to Heaven or something."

"His superiors told him to help me. I was hoping he could give me a lift to Heaven."

"Maybe he'll show up again. He might be looking for you right now."

"He won't remember me. He might come looking for you."

"Good enough, right?"

"I hope so."

"So what do you want to do? Hang out and knock back a few?"

"Don't you need to sleep?"

"Man, I'm too wired to sleep."

"I need to talk to an angel. I imagine Sarah's actions tonight have got them on high alert, and maybe bunkered in. Considering where we are, I know where to find them."

"Not much deduction needed on that one, is there Sherlock?"

"Elementary, Watson. You ready to go?"

He took one last swig to finish the bottle and then stood up. "I am now."

The Vatican. The home of the Pope. The home of St. Peter's Basilica. The home base and the largest and most powerful seraphim sanctuary in the mortal realm.
 

I needed to talk to an angel, and there was no better place to find one.

Of course, these angels weren't friends of mine. Maybe some of them would be lukewarm, but I knew going in that most of them didn't like me, and would have preferred if Sarah's wings had found their way to my heart, or had sliced clean through my neck. Whatever. I didn't have time to worry about that now. My only other seraphim contact was back in New York, and unless Dante showed up right away to teleport me there, or unless I wound up desperate enough to time walk again, I wasn't going to reach her.
 

No, I had to walk into the lion's den and see if I could make a case. If I failed with the angels, maybe Francis would hear me out?

We climbed the steps to St. Peter's. The square was empty. Silent. We had seen a number of heavily armed guards outside the perimeter, keeping watch for those terrorists. I was sure the angels were watching us make our approach, even if I hadn't tried to look for them. Whenever they showed up, they showed up. I didn't want to make any moves that they took as aggressive. As powerful as I was, I was on the holiest ground on the planet. They could take me if they had the numbers, which was why I had never visited before.
 

That I was here, now, would send a clear message. It was a huge white flag. An obvious cry for help. I didn't like submitting so easily, but there was nothing else to be done.
 

We reached the doors to the massive Church. I pushed one of them open with my power, and we moved inside. I was awed by the interior. The scale. The craftsmanship. The hand of God in everything that was created there.
 

"Hello?" Obi said, his voice echoing in the empty space.
 

I had expected there would be a guard at least. The place was deserted.

"Echo," he shouted, smiling as it was repeated back to him, the acoustics bouncing his voice around the columns and arches. I looked over at him, and he shrugged. "Just trying to get some attention."

We waited. Nobody came.
 

"I thought that would work," I said.
 

"What the heck is going on in here?" Obi replied.

"A thousand Touched died tonight, Diuscrucis," the smooth, low voice said from everywhere, bouncing off the walls without an echo. "A dozen angels as well."